The Best Interests of the Child: The Least Detrimental Alternative

In The Best Interests of the Child, published between 1973 and 1986, the authors speak in one voice in concluding that the continuity of care - continuity of a child's relationship with his or her adult caregiver - is a universal essential to the child's well-being.

The authors stress that minimizing intrusions by the law is paramount to safeguarding the child's growth and development. The least detrimental alternative - the authors overarching guideline for assuring the continuity of the psychological parent-child relationship - has been cited in more than a thousand child custody cases since 1973.